It’s a football night in Indianapolis! Tonight the Pittsburgh Steelers will take on the Peyton-Manning-less Indianapolis Colts on their own turf on prime time television with an 8:20 start on NBC. Both teams have a rich history of winning, and the names to prove it. They have seen each other before and the match ups have been amazing. It should be high intensity from start to finish!

The Steelers (1-1) are coming off of a shutout home win from last week’s game against the Seattle Seahawks. Both sides of the ball proved that they were able to bounce back from their devastating loss in week one against their arch rival, the Baltimore Ravens.

The Colts (0-2) are starting off struggling this year, trying to show everyone that they don’t need Peyton to be relevant. Losing both of their first two games to the Houston Texans and the Cleveland Browns didn’t help their cause. Until now, Peyton Manning hasn’t missed a single game since being picked first overall in the 1998 draft. Peyton recently had surgery on his neck and has been suffering setbacks from the surgery. He has yet to take a snap this season, and it looks as if he won’t take one at all. At season start Indianapolis employed, and entrusted their team in the hands of 38 year old veteran Kerry Collins, which at the time seemed like the right move. It has turned out to be everything but that. Two sloppy starts later Collins has shown that he may not be the answer after all.

The Colt’s rushing attack ranks among one of the worst in the league with only an average of 86 yards per game. Indianapolis Colts’ running back Joseph Addai is showing he may not be the dynamic rusher everyone thought he would be when he was selected in the first round out of LSU in 2006. Reggie Wayne and Pierre Garcon are their two wide receivers who stand out, and could cause some problems for Pittsburgh, who only has one good cornerback. Steelers corner Ike Taylor will probably be taking turns shadowing both of them. In both games this season the receivers Taylor’s covered have been virtually blanketed. This will be a true test for the defense to see what they can do when a team has more passing threats than they have talent to cover them.

That being said, Pittsburgh has more talent than Indianapolis, including a functioning quarterback. This will make the difference for the Steelers and will propel them past the Colts to add another check in the win column. Last week’s prediction for the Steelers vs. Seahawks was 27-10, which was pretty close. It will be a defensive battle for both teams, but the Steelers come out victorious with a score of 31-13. Tune in Monday for my recap of the game. That’s all for today folks! Leave your predictions and thoughts; I want to know what you guys think! Steelers vs. Colts Recap Tomorrow, stay tuned!

Just a week after all of the speculation came that the defense was aging, and the offense was not disciplined, the Steelers answered back and made a statement for this year. Pittsburgh dominated on both sides of the ball shutting out Seattle and handing them their second loss of the season. The final score was 24-0 with scoring plays to Mendenhall, Redman, Wallace, and a 20 yd field goal by Suisham. A scary moment for Ben when his leg would be rolled on, and had to leave the game for a couple of plays. He would come back to finish the game completing 22 of his 30 passes for 298 yards and 1 touchdown.

The defense went from displaying their worst defensive stand in years to one of the best in years. The Seahawks failed to make it to the Steelers side of the field until the 4th quarter, and only totaled 190 total yards the whole game. Tarvaris Jackson completed 20 of his 29 passes but failed to throw a touchdown, or score at all. They gained only 31 yards on the ground, which is about 140 yards better than last week. Pittsburgh failed to force turnovers, but still had a solid outing this week.

The Steelers set out to rest everyones worries about the team this year, and even showed how dominant they can be. I still view this team as a SuperBowl contender, and think they can make a deep run to get back to the promise land and make an attempt for redemption. Next week the team plays a shaky Manningless Colts team who is still trying to find their identity, and a win, on Sunday night football. Tune in later this week for my Colts vs Steelers Preview.

Last week we watched the Baltimore Ravens take the field on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The only problem is, the Steelers didn't take the field with them. Not one phase of the complete team performed anywhere near satisfactory. The offensive line looked sloppy, the run game was poor. Turnovers are what really did the team in though, giving up the ball as many times as scored points. Seven turnovers are never good, especially when your defense is aging. The defense is still dominant, and one of the best in the league. That being said, they need breaks. They can't come off the field get a sip of water and have to go back in the game due to a turnover. The offense needs to force longer drives and more points so that this team can get the rest they need in between series.

This week Pittsburgh takes on an old superbowl foe in the Seahawks. A completely different team now as they only have two starters from the 2005 superbowl. Pete Carrol has taken over since and is looking to turn things around in his second year. Starting quarterback Tarvaris Jackson had a less than average game last week giving up two fumbles, and 1 interception in a loss to the 49ers. Also, a stat worth mentioning, in 8 east coast games the Seahawks have gone 0-8 and have turned over the ball 11 times. Hopefully this gives the advantage to Pittsburgh and they can get their season back on track.